Take-Back Your Attic!

With her film directing career rapidly ascending, 32-year-old Audrey desperately needed to upgrade her bare-bones third-floor work space in the 1940s city house she and her partner, Steve, a telecommunications executive, bought two years ago. Facing a flurry of creative meetings and editing sessions, she felt, in her own words, "humiliated to bring anyone upstairs."

To the rescue came design superhero Candice Olson, who saw beyond the warrenlike attic's two rooms and closet to envision, says Olson, "a more functional space that would put forward a professional image." Olson's team opened up the attic into one epic-proportioned 11-by-30-foot expanse, in which new built-ins and furniture delineate three separate-but-related functions: an office where Audrey works on her own, a conference area for collaborating with others, and a screening room for showcasing her finished oeuvres.

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Fresh white walls, an engineered oak floor, soft-hued natural fabrics, and lively paisley wall decals make the new work space "feel creative, with a subtly feminine touch," says Olson. She adds, "Now, Audrey is ready for her close-up!"

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